Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on WR Andre Johnson's injury) "He dislocated his finger in a
one-on-one drill this morning and we're getting it looked at, so
hopefully he's back here this afternoon. We'll have to wait
and see. I wasn't at the drill so I just got the
information. I have a big lump in my throat like everybody
else, but hopefully he'll be fine."

(on how long a dislocated finger takes to heal) "Like I said, I
was at the 9-on-7 drill and it happened over at the one-on-one
drill. Right away, they took him to get it looked at so
that's where they're at right now; should be back here shortly is
what they just told me, so we'll know. Hopefully it's just a
dislocation and they're able to get it back in place and they're
able to get back to work."

(on if WR Andre Johnson's injury is just part of training camp)
"Yeah, unfortunately. We came out here this morning and like
I tell the players all the time, you're one play away from getting
a chance to be a starter in this league. (Dorin) Dickerson
worked as a starter today. Jason Allen got sick.
(Sherrick) McManis worked as a starter today. Wade Smith got
sick on us last night. We've got a little bug going
around. Shelley Smith is starting at left guard. That's
the NFL. We'll go back and see how they did, but it's a great
opportunity for those guys today."

(on meeting with DE Ty Warren yesterday) "I had a visit with
him. Obviously, (General Manager) Rick's (Smith) been
visiting with him a great deal going through this process.
We're impressed with Ty (Warren). He's a heck of
player. I know him personally, obviously from being from here
and I think he's trying to decide where he wants to go next.
He's got some options and we're hoping we might be one of those
options, so we'll see. We're part of the process right
now."

(on not having much time before the season starts) "It's a fluid
process. Everything we're doing right now is to bring them
along and not slowly, so to speak, but we do have a sense of
urgency from a standpoint of when we've got to be ready to
play. We were able to stay outside all day today.
That's a good sign. The weather wasn't too bad, so I'm hoping
our first day in pads will either be in the morning or
Thursday. I'll have to make a decision as we go. I'm
trying to spend a lot of time with our trainers and doctors on how
to go about this and try to go about it the right way."

(on if the team is picking up things faster than anticipated)
"It's been a good two days. The pickup part, you're probably
talking more about the defense since they haven't been
together. I've been impressed. You've seen us have a
lot of jog-through situations late in practice where we're getting
excessive reps so we can teach off it. It's a little
different approach, but it's important. It's something we've
got to do. It's not something to see if we can do. We
got to do it."

(on what he wants to see out of WR Trindon Holliday) "I just want
him to show me that he knows what our receivers do in our playbook
right now. That's the most important thing. He's had a
year to study and if he knows what he's doing, he can
compete. He was never asked to play that position in college
and I'm asking him to do it. It's been a good couple days for
him. He's way ahead of where he was last year, so we'll see
how he does."

(on if there's more excitement and expectations for the team this
year than in years past) "I think we do. Obviously to me, the
last 10 days is what added to that in the fact that we were able to
get some pieces for our defense that we knew were very
important. You never know in free agency if you're going to
get them or not, but (General Manager) Rick (Smith) and (Vice
President of Football Administration) Chris (Olsen) did a great
job, so that has added to it. Just being on the field with
J.J. (Watt) and just watching some of these young guys that we
drafted and the athletes we have on the defensive side of the ball
right now watching practice is very exciting. We're looking
forward to it, but we just have to stay focused on what we're
doing."

(on Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips' respect among the
players) "When he walks in a room, he doesn't have to introduce
himself. They know what he's been doing, how long he's been
doing it and it's been successful. I heard him telling a
story to the team the other day about Robert Brazile. I was
wondering in my office if they know who Robert Brazile is.
Just listening to him, talking to him and the credibility that he
instantly brings to the coaches, the players on this field, to this
city is awesome, just glad to be with him."

(on if FS Shiloh Keo is pretty vocal on the field) "He is.
You can tell he's a leader. Where he comes from, he's the
leader of their football team. You see that in him.
Special teams will be a big part of his career early. He's
got a lot to learn, but he's very eager to do it."

(on if there's any update on RB Lawrence Vickers) "No, there is no
update. I think he's supposed to be visiting today, but I
have not seen him. He is a player that we have some interest
in and we're going to talk to him."

(on QB T.J. Yates) "I tell you what, if you want to pick out a guy
that's made the most improvement from practice one to two, it was
him. It was a tough situation, asking a rookie quarterback to
run the second and the third group the first day of camp and he's
never had a rep. He had a tough day yesterday, but I told him
this morning when we walked on the field, 'You're a second-year pro
today so you better be better,' and he was better."

(on if QB T.J. Yates is performing as they thought he would)
"We've got to see. He's smart. He knows what he's
doing. He knows how to find completions and he's going to get
a lot of time, so we'll see."

General Manager Rick Smith
(on what has changed with the Houston Texans in the last few
weeks) "Well, I think our football team has improved; that was the
design of the offseason. I think we had a productive offseason. You
go back to even before the lockout; we were able to get some key
guys under contract. We signed Owen Daniels back. We signed Derrick
Ward back. We were able to get those contracts done. Shaun Cody was
done and then we had a productive draft, I felt. To kind of finish
that off with the free-agent acquisitions that we had, I just felt
like we improved our team and that's what we set out to
do."

(on if he changed his philosophy in the offseason by going after
specific needs) "We've done that in the past. I think from a
philosophical standpoint, the only thing that was different was we
had a lot more time. With the lockout we were able to really,
really hone in on our plan and we were able to go over it numerous
times, ad naseum at certain points; I'm sure my guys were tired of
talking to me about it. I really felt like, especially from the
college free-agency standpoint, I think the reason we were able to
sign the guys we had rated fairly high in that group is because our
preparation was so thorough, and then our guys executed. That was
the only difference, in terms of how we go about our offseason plan
and how we evaluate our football team and evaluate our
needs."

(on the approach to getting unrestricted free agents CB Johnathan
Joseph and S Daneial Manning once the lockout was over) "It was a
decision. It was an internal decision and an organizational
decision that we had to make, whether or not we were going to try
to maybe make the big splash and sign one guy or if we were going
to try to maybe sign two guys. And we contemplated that decision
for a few days. A lot of reports, we were in on a couple different
things and different options. What we decided when we decided, we
felt like Danieal Manning and Johnathan Joseph would come in and
really help our football team and impact us the best way. That's
why we decided to go in that direction and we were able to get
those deals done."

(on what the selling point was to sell Danieal Manning and
Johnathan Joseph on signing with the Texans) "I think everybody
understands that our football team is close. We have not realized
our goals over the last couple years, particularly last year, when
we took a step back. I think people understand that our team is
close and they understand that we've got something special here,
that we're building something special and they wanted to be a part
of it and that was a big part of it. They wanted to be a part of
what we're doing and they were excited about joining the Houston
Texans and what we can accomplish together."

(on what areas of the team he would like to address, possibly the
fullback position) "My job is to continue to always try to get
better. So, the roster is never set, in my opinion. We will
continue to look and I think there are some areas on our team that
we might be able to improve depth-wise. You mention the fullback
position and we've got a free agent in town today, visiting with
him. He's taking a physical now. Lawrence Vickers is here, visiting
of course. So we'll talk with him and visit with him later today.
We'll continue to try to upgrade our roster constantly."

(on the status of free agent DE Ty Warren) "We had a good visit
yesterday. I think this is a good spot for him (Ty Warren). We
talked a long time about all the reasons why I think it's a good
spot for him; I think he believes so. But he's got some options. He
visited a couple different places. He's at another club now. We'll
get a chance to re-visit with him later today and see where he is
in his decision-making process."

(on the health status of free agent DE Ty Warren and if he is
confident in that) "You know what, he's coming off the hip injury,
obviously but our doctors, we did a pretty good work-up yesterday
and we feel pretty comfortable about where he is."

(on when he would like an answer from free agent DE Ty Warren)
"I'm not going to pressure him (Ty Warren). Those guys (free
agents) can't practice anyway until Thursday. I think this is a
good spot for him. I think we've done everything we can do to
communicate that to him and we're going to let him make a decision
on his terms."

(on if he's gotten more personal satisfaction out of this
offseason than any other because of the moves he's been able to
make) "I don't know if I get more personal satisfaction out of it.
I'm just trying to do a good job. I think that I've got a great
group of guys that work with us. I can't tell you how proud I am of
the personnel staff, the coaching staff, our operations staff;
there was a lot of work to be done. (Vice President of Football
Administration) Chris Olsen and (Football Administration Analyst)
Kevin Krajcovic, in terms of helping with the contracts; you know
we did over 40 deals in seven days. That's just a tremendous amount
of negotiating and brain power that we're trying to recover from.
Everybody did a great job and I think our team is better. Again,
that was the design of the offseason. So we feel like we were able
to get better and now it's just time to go out and
play."

(on the play of his rookies so far) "It's early, it's a couple
days. I think our team is more athletic. I like the fact that I
don't see a lot mental mistakes, which means that they're locked
in, so we'll give them a chance to compete."

(on what clicked to make him pull the trigger on the deals to sign
CB Johnathan Joseph on S Danieal Manning while being in the running
for CB Nnamdi Asomugha) "Again, what we were trying to do is be
patient. We were trying to make an internal decision, which way to
go. So I had to get in the game on both fronts, on all fronts,
actually. It was just a matter of us feeling like, as an
organization, that we knew what we wanted to do and we had given
all the parties time to make decisions. When we made our decision,
we were able to communicate that to everybody involved and then we
were able to execute and get the players."

(on if stocking the roster provides for fewer excuses than not
living up to what everybody wants) "We don't look for excuses, in
general. We've never looked for excuses. We're going to try to do
the best job that we can do. I'm going to try to put the best
football team on this field and we're going to try to have those
guys execute the best that they can. That's always been our goal
and that will continue to be our goal."

(on if he's looking at signing a veteran backup linebacker who is
used to the 3-4 defense given that ILBs DeMeco Ryans and Brian
Cushing are coming back from injury) "That's one of the things, as
we talked about, always improving the roster. We're looking at that
position to maybe try to add some guys, veteran players that we can
give an opportunity. That's certainly a position, just like the
fullback position is. But again, that's across the board in all of
our positions. We're going to try to improve everywhere that we can
and there are a lot of free agent still without jobs. We'll
entertain every opportunity that we have to improve our football
team."

(on his assessment of WR Jacoby Jones' time with the Texans and
signing him back) "I think he has matured. I think his level of
play, last year, obviously was his best year and I think that was a
product of experience. I think it was a product of his personal
maturation process. I gotta be honest, I think who he surrounds
himself with I think has helped him. It was nice to see him evolve
the way he did last year and produce the way that he produced. He's
still got some inconsistent things about him that he's got to
correct but I think he's immensely talented and I think he can help
us."

(on if there is a degree of bad luck in the way the team has lost
some of its games the last two years) "What we've got to do, we've
got to execute. That's all. We've got to execute, particularly in
the times of a football game where you've got to really be locked
in. That's the discipline part of and then guys have got to step up
and make plays. That's what we've got to do. We didn't do a good
job of that in games at the end last year. I will pretty much tell
you that we're going to be focused on that this year and I would
expect that we will perform a heck of a lot better in those
situation this year moving forward."

DT
Earl Mitchell
(on his progression since his rookie year) "I think I have the
ability to do good things, obviously I have confidence in myself
but I got to keep working and do whatever it takes."

(on the possibility of more playing time) "It's the nature of the
business. Once your number is called, all you can do is just do
what you can do. It's pretty nice though and I wish him (former
Texan Amobi Okoye) well, but I got my job to do and I got a career
of my own so I've got to do whatever I can do."

(on Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips) "You can just tell that
everyone knows their responsibilities and everyone is on the same
page. We just listen to what he has to say because he knows a lot
more than us, because obviously he's been coaching longer than most
of us have been playing."

FS
Glover Quin
(on if he's a true free safety) "I feel better and natural back
there. I just feel like that's what I was born to do, but I like to
play whatever they ask me to play and so now I'm actually working
out the strong safety so you have to know it all. You have to know
the strong (safety), you have to know the free (safety), you have
to know the corner and you have to know the nickel to be a
versatile player. It's been a good transition and it's been
fun you just have to continue to work at it."

LB
Brooks Reed
(on what he's learned from the veterans) "Just tempo of the
practice and keep your mind in the game when you're not taking a
rep. When you're on the sideline you're taking mental reps watching
your guy do the repetition and you learn from him, too."

(on if his biggest adjustment is size and speed of players) "Yeah,
size and speed. In college I really didn't drop into coverage that
much and that's something my eyes have to get adjusted to. Just
coverage, reading the receivers like Andre (Johnson). These guys
are running around here like, 'Holy cow.' I'm slowly getting a grip
on it. I'm progressing every day, so hopefully by tomorrow I'll be
better."

(on what film they've looked at on the 3-4 defense) "That's one
thing that they harp on is that it's been a proven system and what
we have to do is buy into our system even though it may be
different than what we were trained to do in college. As soon as we
do that then this defense will be very successful."

(on who has taken him under their wing) "Connor (Baldwin). He's
the starter right now and he's helping me try to come
along.

QB
Matt Schaub
(on WR Jacoby Jones) "He's done good. He's really matured a lot
and we just look for, he needs to take that next step and we really
expect him to. I feel like he's primed to really take
off."

(on how WR Jacoby Jones played last year) "He had flashes of
excellence, and that's what we expect of him. He's a big play guy.
The more he's out there the more comfortable he gets so that's our
job right now, is to get him out there and get him
involved."

RB
Ben Tate
(on getting No. 44 after FB Vonta Leach left) "Well it went back
to last year. I tried to get it from Vonta (Leach) but 'Leach to
the Beach', he wanted a ridiculous number for it so that wasn't
going to happen. Unfortunately, he's gone this year but I had a
chance to get (number) 44 back."

(on if many players ask for money for number changes) "I would
guess, but I don't think it's as outrageous as what Vonta (Leach)
was asking for."

(on how anxious he is to get back on the field) "I'm very anxious
to get back to a preseason game and get to show everyone, the fans,
the organization, teammates, what I can do. I've been working hard
this offseason to come back from this ankle injury and I'm just
looking forward to having my opportunity."

(on if he was frustrated not having a year like RB Arian Foster
last year) "In a sense yes, but it is one of your teammates and I
am happy for him that he's doing well. It will just help me be a
better running back knowing that I have to go out there and compete
against those other guys every day."

(on what the running backs bring to the team) "We're all a little
different. From Derrick (Ward) to Steve (Slaton) to me to Arian
(Foster), we all are a little different. At the same time, I think
we have one of the best backfields in the league this year. It's
all competition, it's all fun, we're all friends."

WR
Terrence Toliver
(on being a Houston Texan) "Well it was my first choice to be here
with the Texans organization. They have a great offense, great
quarterback, great receivers, so I'm just here to make the 53-man
roster."

(on being in camp with WR Andre Johnson) "It's fun. Being in high
school watching him, being in college watching him, and I'm out
here playing with him so it's nice. It's nice to come out here and
compete and watch him."

(on coming from LSU to training camp) "It makes it much easier. We
ran a similar offense, the same kind of plays but different
terminology, so it's made the transition much easier.

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